Published: January 14, 1990

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Examples abound: Moscow recently released the first figures since 1928 on suicide in Soviet Union, an important indicator of social stability. It also may be possible soon to subscribe to regional newspapers throughout the Soviet Union, a prospect eagerly awaited in part because it would provide local officials' versions of political meetings they attended on trips to Moscow.

Such reports are available infrequently and are often dated when they are received, an official said.

Information From Travelers

Military experts on arms-control missions inside the Soviet Union return with firsthand observations on Soviet defenses and technology, just as Soviet observers do in this country. So do business executives and tourists who now can visit areas and people that Government officials cannot easily see.

''What we've done is to look at alternative means of collection that weren't previously given the same importance,'' the Director of Central Intellligence, William H. Webster, said in an interview. ''We have mobilized significant places in American industry, professionals and others who have access that we don't have and which we could not likely get over a sustained period of time.''

On the other hand, reliable figures on the economy are rarer than ever despite new openness about Soviet spending, an expert said. Backroom insights into Soviet politics are still nonexistent; like their predecessors 20 years ago, disgraced Soviet officials still resign for ''health reasons.'' And understanding the jockeying within the ruling elite, analysts say, remains an art akin to reading tea leaves.

''Why doesn't someone sign an obit for Sakharov?'' one asked. ''Here's Pravda from Dec. 16. Ligachev didn't sign it. Why? Maybe he didn't like him. We don't know.'' Yegor K. Ligachev, a senior member of the ruling Politburo, is considered one of the more conservative members of the Kremlin leadership.

Changes in Soviet-Watching

Several Government officials said that Mr. Gorbachev's ascension marked the start of changes in the American intelligence community's approach to Soviet-watching. Within the C.I.A., for example, officials created a separate Soviet analysis office, an action later followed by other analytical agencies.

In a move that now looks prescient, the Soviet Union's Eastern European allies, which once were analyzed in the same C.I.A. office, were spun off to a division that watches Western European affairs.

Most important, experts have changed the mix of information they now use to evaluate changes in the Communist bloc. Mr. Webster said in an autumn interview that there was ''no question'' that the ''open side of the business has become more important'' than the secret side as the flow of public data increases.

The C.I.A. has set up new bureaucracies to examine issues like the Soviet labor movement that were unheard of even five years ago. It and other intelligence agencies have placed a new emphasis on economics, recognizing that military might depends in large part on domestic economic strength.

While the individual changes are often subtle, their collective impact weighs large on the analysis business, which has long been skewed to spotting war preparations and other military thrusts and parries.

A top Government analyst estimated this week, for example, that his agency's Sovietologists devote half their effort to nonmilitary issues now, compared with a third just a few years ago.

Some agencies are experimenting with optical scanners and computer programs that can read and translate into English some basic foreign texts, a senior official said, and the processing of radio and television broadcasts has been partly computerized as well.